Studies indicate that Sarbanes-Oxley’s certification requirement has achieved its end of preventing fraud. In a 2006 survey of auditors, for example, 68% reported that the requirement improved the integrity of financial reporting. One of the auditors noted that previously “it was very easy for people to say … I wasn’t involved in that, I didn’t know anything about that.”

A similar survey of corporate directors indicated that the requirement heightened CEO diligence. One director said, “now the CEO also wants a good audit,” while “previously it used to be like . . . passing the buck kind of mentality.” That is because, under Sarbanes Oxley, the CEO is clearly “on the hook.”